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Detroit

July 31, 2015

I have two videos being screened plus a live performance this week, all related to Remote Control Tomato. An initiative of Spread Art, Remote Control Tomato is a collaborative performance platform of Thomas Bell (sound, performance art) and me (visuals, performance art) in which we site-specific, immersive environments. Mixing a variety of technologies, performances rely on improvisation and generally invite public participation.

Con(text) is a site-specific participatory performance work that explores the intersection of mainstream media, conformity, social justice, and identity. The work immerses audiences in a low and hi tech multimedia environment of video, sound, movement and performance art, creating a performative experience of authentic human interaction within which an exploration of individual privacy and autonomy can take place. This excerpt of the larger work explores themes of self-reflection, personal versus group identity and inside versus outside.UntitledRemote Control Tomato (Christina deRoos/video, Thomas Bell/sound) with Sarah BenolielScreening at Sidewalk Festival for the Performing Arts, Saturday, August 1 @ 6pm at Artist Village.

Sidewalk is an outdoor celebration of performance and installation art in the heart of Detroit’s Old Redford and Brightmoor neighborhood. Sidewalk presents radical, interactive works of performance art, dance, music, theater and sculpture in unique spaces, curating original work that uncovers the hidden potential of these places. Activated spaces include alleys, storefronts, sidewalks, community gardens,parking lots, and streets.

February 07, 2015

I'm collaborating with Matthew Daher on the video environment for his upcoming EP release party. Aside from the fun of tangling with a lot of cables and projectors, I'm happy to support a project with a title that concisely sums up the advice of dozens of books I've read: Dwelling Lightheartedly in the Futility of Everything.

Dwelling Lightheartedly In The Futility of Everything is the latest release from Detroit drummer/composer/producer Matthew Daher. The culmination of 4 years of explorations in groove-driven songwriting, with studio production guided by electroacoustic gesture and manipulation, Dwelling weaves ambient, noise, and post-rock sensibilities into cerebral and emotive compositions inspired by artists such as Georgia Anne Muldrow, J Dilla, and Bjork.

October 12, 2014

I recently created two new video works for exhibitions in Detroit. The first, Extraction, was included in "Video Center," a September exhibition at the N'Namdi Gallery for Contemporary Art during the biennial Dlectricity festival.

On the second night of the exhibition, the gallery space was further activated with a collaborative, interdisciplinary performance, Extraction/Distraction, featuring a live mix of Extraction and other video, created in real time in response to sounds from Thomas Bell and movement from Ryan Myers-Johnson.

Photos: Meighen Jackson

The second recent video work is an untitled piece exploring the relationship of sound and movement, and will be shown Saturday, October 18 during Infrared Ultrasound, a one night video art and performance event curated by Natasha Beste and Matthew Daher.

August 03, 2014

Founded by Ryan Myers-Johnson, Sidewalk Festival of the Performing Arts is an annual outdoor celebration of site-specific performance and installation art, in the heart of Detroit’s Old Redford/Brightmoor Neighborhoods.

For Sidewalk 2014, Spread Art facilitated a participatory visual art project, inviting residents of and visitors to Brightmoor and Old Redford to transform recycled fabric into a temporary installation reflecting collective impressions in response to "Brightmoor Is" or "Old Redford Is." The fabric pieces will next be quilted together to form a creative archive of one day in the history of Brightmoor and Old Redford. See more 2014 photos here.

For the inaugural edition of the festival (2013), Remote Control Tomato (a collaboration with Thomas Bell) presented U.S.A. PATRIOT ACT(ION), a multimedia exploration of the surveillance state. See 2013 photos here.

July 07, 2014

Summer 2014 began with another crazy weekend of art during Bushwick Open Studios. This year Spread Art presented Transient ID: DET <-> NYC in collaboration with Indus Truck Works, Ltd.

The event built upon last year's Don't Box Me In, again including two full days of performance art. This year added a visual art show inside the box truck brought from Detroit by Indus Truck Works, and the street outside of Pine Box was closed all day Saturday, which brought many other performance artists and groups to the streets, including a full day of music curated by ThingNY.

I presented a work-in-progress version of All Systems are Inherently Unstable as part of the group show in the truck (left image below). The finished work will show at Whitdel Arts during the annual Members Show, running July 11 - August 9 (middle image below).

Saturday evening, in collaboration with The Cocoon Project, I participated in Transient ID: Inside, the Future which took place at sunset. With multiple artists collaborating in an improvised multimedia setting, I contributed a real-time mix of projected visuals (right image above), including remixed documentation of Anya Liftig's performance art work, including Ancient Evenings, Feeder and Failing/Flying: The Mash.

Next up is an interactive installation on August 2 during the second annual Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts, an outdoor celebration of site-specific performance and installation art in the heart of Detroit’s Old Redford/Brightmoor Neighborhoods.

March 11, 2014

Of all the places I’ve been fortunate to live, none ever captured my heart as quickly and as deeply as Detroit. The creative expression, as well as the ideas, perspectives and histories, of the people I meet consistently grabs my attention, and ultimately leads me to see, hear and feel my life in new ways.

What follows is a conversation that never took place. It is a collaged memory of actual conversations I had over the past few weeks, by phone, email and in person, with four artists who inspire me with their creative practice, their artistic output and their fundamental ways of being in the world.

The spectrum of connected and disconnected memories, creative motivations, and individual passions in this unreal conversation reflects the aspect of Detroit I most deeply admire – the people who call this city home.

March 7 - April 19, 2014Gallery hours: Saturdays, 12-3pm and March 20 & April 17, 7-9pm

We usually take steps to ensure artwork stands the test of time, but sometimes truly remarkable things only exist for a short while. Featuring artwork by local and national artists, "The Temporary Show" calls attention to the ephemeral, fleeting and transitory. This exhibition may look different from one week to the next, as work grows, decays, evaporates, melts, or is somehow manipulated by the viewer.

February 22, 2014

never enough but enough but not all i have but all i give and yet it really isn’t enough and yet it really is all i do while my heroes did/do/will do more this is all i do and i know it is really both not enough and enough and the most selfish thing is the most selfless thing and yet i’m sure it really is never enough unless i’m wrong and later i find out it was/is/will be just right

A project of Spread Art, the third Thursday of every month The Creative [ ] Incubator invites creatives to experiment with the low and the hi tech while exploring new possibilities in an improvised, collaborative performance environment. Each month features a different [focus] discipline, with [music] happening every other month.

The Creative [ ] Incubator began as The Creative Music Incubator, hosted for 1 year at The Tank in NYC. Now based in Detroit, the series maintains its focus on experimentation and collaboration, while exploring different creative discipline each month

July 21, 2013

secrets & stories revealed themselves
through conversations with strangers to me. Beginning with a set of
photographs I invited individuals of all ages to select and keep a
photograph in exchange for a secret or a story. See the previous post for more details.

Documentation of secrets and stories (the video below - chapter one - of the
original photos and audio exchanged, as well as prints of the original
photographs and additional ephemera) will be installed this afternoon and remain on display at
Kunsthalle Detroit through mid-August. I hope there will be an additional chapter added during the course of the exhibition.

secrets and stories is part of citydrift/Detroit, an art meta-event bringing together
non-traditional practices under the philosophical umbrella of the
Situationist 'derive'.

July 13, 2013

Join me July 18-21 for citydrift/Detroit, an art meta-event bringing together non-traditional practices under the philosophical umbrella of the Situationist
'derive'.

In addition to participating as an Associate Curator through Spread Art, I'm involved individually through a drift where Secrets & Stories will reveal themselves through
conversations with strangers to me in SW Detroit.

Beginning with a set
of photographs I will invite individuals of all ages that I do not
already know and offer to trade a photograph for a secret or a story. I
will capture audio of the secret or story revealed. I will not collect
names or other identification of the individuals involved, nor will I
ask whether they are sharing a personal secret or a fictitious story.

Documentation to be on display at Kunsthalle Detoit through mid-August, and will consist of prints of the original
photographs installed with the audio recordings.

See the full citydrift/DETROIT schedule for Thursday 7/18 - Sunday 7/21 here.

July 05, 2013

During July Remote Control Tomato will be creating a new multimedia performance installation exploring states of surveillance.

Titled "Unilateral Spying Against Patriotic Americans. This
Really Is Offensive To All Citizens Targeted (Irrelevant Of
Nationality)." USA PATRIOT ACT(ION), we will premiere the work as a 1 hour interactive video, sound and performance installation during the Sidewalk Festival for the Performing Arts (Saturday, August 3rd in Detroit).

An initiative of Spread Art, Remote
Control Tomato draws together the work of Thomas Bell
(sound art, visual art) and me (multimedia, visual art) to create immersive environments. Mixing a variety of technologies,
performances rely on improvisation and often invite public
participation.

July 04, 2013

Almost a year flew by since I posted news here. Too many good things happening to keep up.

Spread Art has been the focus of a lot energy since our relocation to Detroit, including purchasing a house and ramping up visting artist residencies, curating visual art exhibitions like the Anti-Auto Show, and producing events such as "Don't Box Me In."

I've shown photography and/or mixed media work in a few exhibitions, including the Member's Show (currently on view at Whitdel Arts) and "Clandestine" at UofM's Work Detroit gallery.

Upcoming activities include Remote Control Tomato presenting "Unilateral Spying Against Patriotic
Americans. This Really Is Offensive To All Citizens Targeted (Irrelevant
Of Nationality)" // USA PATRIOT ACT(ION) // during Sidewalk Festival of the Performing Arts on August 3rd, developing an interactive installation/performance work utilizing brain wave sensors for a Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit fellowship, and an October residency at AS220.

July 13, 2012

SPREAD ART CREATIVE INCUBATOR RELOCATES TO DETROIT FROM BROOKLYN

Spread Art is an artist-run creative incubatordesigned to foster new works through collaborations with artists, curators, and organizations from around the world. With Operations now concentrated in Detroit, (the organization just moved from NYC recently!)

Spread Art supports emerging artists through group and solo exhibitions, music events, and performance showcases, and also facilitates opportunities for youth and adults to explore their creativity and increase self-awareness through art. Spread Art supports the creation and evolution of art festivals and cultural collaborations locally, nationally, and internationally.

PLAYGROUND DETROIT sat down with the duo behind the organization, Thomas Bell and Christina deRoos, to ask them about Spread Art and their recent re-location from Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Corktown, Detroit. The two are originally not from Detroit, or NYC, both growing up elsewhere.

PD: When was the first time you visited Detroit? What was your experience and impression of the city like?

de Roos: ”I first visited Detroit in Oct/Nov 2011. A lot of aspects reminded me of the feel of Bushwick, Brooklyn when I first moved there in 2003. I was struck by a similar sense of creative possibility, but on a much grander scale.”

After 4 and ½ years of successful exhibitions, events, workshops, and residencies, Spread Art has wrapped up activities at 104 Meserole Street in Brooklyn as of July 1st 2012. It has been an amazing time with many wonderful memories and we would like to thank all of the artists who were a part of Spread Art’s events, exhibitions and residencies during our time in Brooklyn. As one door closes however, another is opening and in a big way. Spread Art has moved its headquarters to Detroit and has taken on a much larger physical space. This transition enables Spread Art to continue working in collaboration with artists and spaces throughout Brooklyn and New York City, while also expanding operations and activities in Detroit.

A fundraiser for an eleven year old girl, Denitza (Deni), whose mother, Tzveta Tocheva, was killed in Mexicantown in Detroit. Tzveta was an artist and community organizer who could always be found painting murals and co-organzing exhibitions and events in Detroit. The organizers of this show wanted to help Deni and give something back in memory of everything that Tzveta gave to the community. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to an educational fund for Deni.

I have two photographs in the show. If you are interested in purchasing them I encourage you to visit the website and participate in the fundraiser. If after the fundraiser closes you would like a print of these works in exchange for a donation to the fund for Deni, please let me know.

Whitdel Arts presents Partners in Crime, a collaborative exhibition in which local artists were randomly paired to collaborate.

Dynamic duos like Thelma and Louise successfully committed their crimes by making sure they knew how to do one thing - collaborate. These ladies understood that through collaboration, each partner gains from the others' talents. This innate quality of partnership is as equally beneficial for artists. When artists work together, it creates the opportunity for networking and the exchange of ideas. Each artist grows as new avenues of creativity are opened...and new schemes are plotted.

I was paried with Jen Boyak, and we created two pieces. Photos are below, but both are 3 dimensional works best seen in person - which you can do Saturday 6/30 or Sunday 7/7.

I was also paired with Thomas Bell, and we presented the performance piece documented & described below.

Spread Art, Brooklyn, NY (Right screen) Spread Art streamed in video from Whitdel Gallery in Detroit. Thomas Bell performed in response to the video. Hiroshi Shafer livestreamed video and sounds from Spread Art. All took place during Spread Art Summer Group Show V in Brooklyn, NY, part of Bushwick Open Studios 2012.

Whitdel Gallery, Detroit, MI (Left and Right screen) Spread Art video and sounds were streamed to Whitdel Gallery. Christina deRoos created a real time video mix of artwork from the exhibition opening in Detroit (Partners in Crime), the exhibition opening in Brooklyn (Summer Group Show V), the video streaming from Spread Art, personal video files, and a live camera feed at Whitdel Arts.

May 06, 2012

Thank you to the many artist collaborators, curators, galleries, performance spaces, schools, students, friends and family members who enabled so much to happen. As always, extra special thanks to Thomas Bell and Roger & Carolyn deRoos, who believed in me before I believed in myself.